Legislators want US to curb biotech exports to China’s military

Washington — A bipartisan group of lawmakers called on the Biden administration to consider restricting the export of US biotechnology to the Chinese military, citing concerns Beijing could weaponize it to create more toxic pathogens.

In a letter dated Thursday and seen by Reuters, the legislators, led by Republican China Select Committee chair John Moolenaar, asked commerce secretary Gina Raimondo to study imposing a licensing restriction on US pharmaceutical companies working with Chinese medical entities under military ownership.

Biotech competition between the US and China “will not only have implications for our national and economic security, but also for the future of healthcare and the security of US medical data,” reads the letter signed by Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, who serves as ranking member on the same committee, as well as Republican Neal Dunn.

The commerce department did not immediately respond to a request for comment, but Raimondo’s tenure ends later this month so it is unlikely she will have time to impose any new controls on biotech. The Chinese Embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The letter is a sign of growing concern over China’s role in the biotechnology industry.

In August, the same legislators plus Democrat Anna Eshoo called on the Federal Drug Administration to ramp up scrutiny of US clinical trials conducted in China, citing the risk of intellectual property theft and the possibility of forced participation of Uyghurs.

They said US drug companies have collaborated with Chinese military-run hospitals to conduct hundreds of clinical trials over the last decade, including in Xinjiang, home to China’s Uyghur minority group.

In a response letter to the legislators dated January 2, the FDA acting associate commissioner for legislative affairs, Laura Paulos, said protections were in place for trial participants.

“Given concerns regarding the human rights abuses occurring in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the FDA has publicly reiterated that [legislation] requires clinical trials to obtain the legally effective, informed consent of human subjects,” she wrote.

In response to concerns about intellectual property theft and technology transfer, Paulos referred the legislators to “appropriate US federal agency partners”. 

Reuters